Crash And Burn
by Lily Anna Evans Potter
Summary: Clay Evans fell in love with the bubbly girl he met on a bridge in college. When a tragedy turns Sara's world upside down he sets out to prove he's not like other college flirts and will do anything to bring back her adorable smile. College Clara exploration fic.
1. On The Count Of Two

**On The Count Of Two**

"You are officially a wimp, Evans," Alex Walker teased his college roommate, climbing over the railing of the bridge they were standing on. A group of Duke University buddies were taking advantage of the sunny Saturday to prove their daring by diving off the bridge into the lake below.

"Am not, this stuff is totally in your blood man, we can't all be daredevils," Clay Evans protested weakly, curling his fingers tightly around the rail, without climbing over to the dangerous side. Alex grinned, revealing perfect white teeth and flexed his muscles proudly. There was no way those nerves of steel were down to anything but his Italian roots, Clay mused, flinching as Alex somersaulted off the railing. That was it; all his friends were out of sight in the water way too far below him now, damn. "Peer pressure ladies and gentlemen," Clay muttered under his breath to no one in particular.

"Tell me about it," agreed a voice to his left faintly and Clay looked up with a start. Staring wide-eyed over the rail at the water was a girl. Dressed simply in a pink sleeveless top and tiny shorts, the blonde was pretty, he decided instantly.

"I can tell you it's a long way down," he grinned at her and the girl rolled her deep hazel eyes at him, before glancing down at the water again.

"I can see that Einstein," she said, biting her lip nervously. "I'm really not a big fan of heights and you are not helping!"

"I heard Einstein lacked social skills to make up for his genius," Clay replied conversationally. "I hope I'm not that bad, the name's Clay by the way."

"Not too bad," she managed a shy smile. "I'm Sara." Almost immediately her gaze darted back to the motion of the waves below them. "I really wish my roommates could have been happy with something a little tamer. What's wrong with say, beer pong or even streaking?"

"Perfectly awesome college traditions right there," he agreed fervently. "Curse of the daredevil roomies this is." Clay followed her terrified gaze to the water below, gulped and glanced back at Sara again. "You wanna do this together?" he suggested. He clambered over the railing and held out his hand to help her.

"Traitor," she squealed, shaking like a leaf and clinging to the rail harder than ever.

"Come on," Clay said encouragingly. "Your friends will leave you behind if you don't," he pointed out. "You can do it!"

Sara resisted the urge to squeeze her eyes shut with difficulty as she climbed over the rail with Clay's help. "If I survive this, I'm so killing my roommate," she grumbled.

"Murder doesn't seem like your style, pinky," he joked, toying with the loose shoulder strap of her top as she pressed back against the rail in terror. The only way to go from this side was down, a very long way down.

"How would you know my style?" she protested, side-stepping out of his reach. "Bad boy!"

"I'm not really, that's just a very cute top you're wearing," he smirked. "Anyway, stop changing the subject. We were about to jump, I believe?"

A faint blush had made Sara's cheeks match her pale pink top for a split second, but his last words ignited her fear again. Clay sidled closer to her and held out his hand; "On the count of two?" he suggested, holding her scared gaze for a moment.

"What? Nobody goes on the count of two!" she objected quickly, tearing her brown eyes away from his face to stare at the lapping water below them again.

"I know," Clay shrugged. "It can be our thing, something to tell the grandkids about years from now."

"I would have been perfectly happy to share a story about streaking across the quad," she sighed.

"Oh gross," he groaned. "No kid wants to hear that from their grandparents, trust me."

Sara looked right at him again and giggled, inching her pale fingers carefully along the railing behind them until she could reach his hand. "On the count of two?" she said timidly.

Clay smiled widely at her, that laugh was just about the cutest thing he'd ever heard. "You're on," he said, grasping her hand and aiming a final steely gaze at the intimidating mass of water below them. "One…," he started, swinging their joined hands to and fro so they each had one hand remaining on the rail.

"Two," Sara said in a voice pitched high with fear. With that the pair lurched away from the railing at last and dived bravely into the lake below.

Their joined hands broke apart at the colossal splash when they collided with the water and for a moment the force of the water blinded Clay. Sara's breathless laughter sounded somewhere to his left and by the time his eyes managed to pop open she was paddling in triumphant circles around him. "Oh goodness, tell that to the grandkids indeed," she giggled.

"How badass were you, girl?" he grinned back. Just like that, the shy edge to Sara's peals of laughter fell away and she braced her hands on his shoulders. Her rosy lips were pressed against Clay's before he knew what was happening, but he responded eagerly soon enough. They broke apart only at the loud wolf-whistles from their friends, somehow already back on the bridge they had taken so long to jump from. "Definitely one to tell the grandkids," Sara said with a wink, paddling away from him teasingly. Clay stared after her, intrigued, but the blonde was already gaping up at the bridge; "Is that your roomie making out with mine by any chance?"

Clay followed her gaze and instantly rolled his eyes; Alex was leaning against the bridge railing holding a slim brunette against him. "If that's your roomie then yes it is," he said. "If Alex has his way with her you won't have to murder her, he's a heart-breaker."

"Poor thing," Sara said unconvincingly, her deep brown eyes were glinting mischievously.

A few of their less promiscuous friends were looking down at the water with interest and Clay smirked; "Who says they get to have all the fun? You up for another round, pinky?"

"It's Sara, you goof," she giggled, glancing self-consciously down at her now wet and transparent tank top. "And that depends on another round of what; I'm not jumping off the damn bridge again!"

"Not what I had in mind," Clay admitted and swam closer to her again. He wrapped his arms around her and gently started sucking on her lips, begging wordlessly for entry.

"That I can do," Sara gasped and returned the kiss to cheers from their watching friends. "Who knew counting to two could have so many benefits?"

"Told you so," Clay moaned triumphantly between kisses. "Have a little faith next time, pinky."

"You really are a knucklehead," she murmured in exasperation. "If you're expecting a next time, learn my name!"

"I was hoping for one," he said sincerely. "Strange to go through the count of two and leave it at a chance meeting, that's my special thing you know. And your name is lovely, Sara No-Last-Name," he added sweetly.

"Sara Kay," she laughed, shivering when the sun disappeared suddenly behind a cloud. "Can we get out of here, please?"

"Not until Sara Kay promises Clay Evans another date," he grinned, holding onto her wrist triumphantly.

"I don't see how the count of two equals two dates, but okay," she conceded. He was too mesmerized by her to point out this chance meeting wasn't exactly a date.

The clouds continued to darken abruptly above them; "Hurry up you two," their friends urged from the bridge overhead.

"Race you to land?" Sara suggested and took off with strong, confident strokes before he could even nod. Clay followed her quickly, thinking all the way that missing out seeing this girl again was not an option. A stupid stunt and daring room-mates had resulted in an absolutely fateful encounter they would both be telling their grandkids about one day, no matter what.

**A / N Presenting the prologue to my first Clara story, love them despite the limited moments. Makes it more fun to write because her character is very open to interpretation. Enjoy! xx**


	2. Fast Friends

**Fast Friends**

As dark clouds descended over Durham, the group of bridge-diving Duke University students huddled together in a small fast food joint near their campus. Alex had charmed Sara's room-mate Jessica into the seat opposite him and was mischievously waving a French fry covered with ketchup in her face. "I envy your metabolism, sweetie," the brunette sighed, throwing Sara's plate an envious glance. "Cassie will have my head if I touch that thing," she said, glaring darkly at the smirking Alex. Sara nodded absently, focused on twisting her damp hair into a loose plait. Both girls were majoring in dance and their ballet teacher was famous for her impeccable standards and no-nonsense attitude.

"Stop tormenting her," Sara snapped at the dark-haired flirt on her friend's behalf.

"Feisty," Alex grinned appreciatively at the blonde. "Not stopping anything until she sticks up for herself, I love the accent." Jessica almost choked on her water at the random confession and Clay stopped staring at Sara long enough to pat her on the back. "Where are you from, pretty lady?" Alex asked, mimicking her heavy, obviously British accent.

"I hate you," she groaned, snatching up a chip remorsefully from Alex's plate. "And I'm from England, happy now?" Alex continued to smile charmingly at her and Sara rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Clay.

"Is he always this bad?" she asked curiously.

"I warned you, total heart-breaker," Clay shrugged dismissively, glancing sympathetically at Jessica whose exasperated glare was softening quickly. "But enough about him, I hope you know this doesn't qualify as our date, Sara Kay."

"Is that so?" Sara challenged, tilting her head and staring him down with adorably raised eyebrows.

"You bet missy, I'm not sharing a pretty girl like you with this lot," he promised, gesturing at the two tables pushed together to accommodate the Duke students. "No way, I'm taking you out properly."

"Flattery won't work on me," Sara replied firmly, but her bright smile contradicted the words. She reached over and swiped some ketchup from the corner of Clay's plate, popping the French fry into her mouth with a teasing smirk as he continued to stare at her. "What are you staring at, knucklehead? Do I have something on my face?"

"Just there," Clay murmured, pressing a napkin into her hand. Swiping away the stray ketchup by her lips only happened in movies after all. The fact was the sight of her face did something to his insides, a pleasurable squirm of positive energy almost. It had started with the fleeting gaze of pure terror she had given him on the bridge and now he couldn't look away if he wanted to. "I'm sorry," he said sheepishly. "You're beautiful."

"Thanks," she said quietly, the return of her flushed cheeks proved she knew he wasn't being flattering for the sake of it. Good thing too, he could hardly believe he had said that out loud. Clay stared at his plate with a nervous smile and Sara watched him with interest. The sincerity was more flattering than anything she could hear Alex still persistently throwing at Jessica, on her left. "I still can't believe I actually did that jump," Sara said at last, breaking the awkward silence. "I wasn't kidding, life-long fear of heights here," she confessed. "I never even fly unless I have to."

"Seriously?" Clay took the bait gratefully. "You must be from nearby then; I get the feeling most people at this college fly in from all over the place." He nodded to their left; "Look at your roomie, for example."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I'm from Raleigh actually, only about half an hour's drive from here. It's convenient because my family need me to come home as much as possible, kind of a Sunday ritual."

"No way!" Clay exclaimed; "I'm from Raleigh too, small world," he smiled. "So your family's clingy, huh? I try and go home a fair bit too, my Dad passed away last year so Mom's by herself now."

"I'm sorry," Sara said sympathetically. "Are you an only child?" Clay couldn't help but notice the shadow of a frown on her face since their families were brought up. He shook his head; "My older sister Lily met her husband in England and settled down over there. We see her on major holidays but it's not easy of course," he said. "What about you? Are you the home-sick type, to go visit so much?"

"It's more out of necessity," Sara sighed. She was never sure how to deal with this question, because for now she had a sister but no one could say how long that would last. How did one deal with the life of one's other half hanging by a thread? It had been many months and Sara still didn't know how to cope with the increasingly strong possibility of losing her best friend and confidante. "I have an older sister too," she said at last, present tense because anything else felt like a curse to her sister's delicate life. "Life is a gift," she said mysteriously; "staying close to family is important."

"You only live once and all," Clay agreed, mystified by the sudden sadness in the blonde's eyes. He let her return to her food in peace and turned to rescue Jessica from Alex's relentless attempts to charm her into submission.

"Dude, give it a rest already," he muttered at his room-mate in exasperation.

"She likes it," Alex protested, winking playfully at Jessica.

The slender brunette blushed at the undeniably charming smirk, but her obvious disapproval severely contrasted Sara's sweet smile. "You wish, buddy," she said, rolling her eyes at the exaggerated flirting. She turned to Clay with a relieved sigh; "Thanks for that, this one's impossible to shake."

"You learn to ignore him," Clay assured her; "Sorry he made you wreck your diet," he nodded at the pile of fries Alex had tipped insistently onto her plate.

"Not looking," Jessica insisted, keeping her pale blue eyes locked on his face. "So, your sister moved to England, huh?"

"Yup, Surrey," he nodded. "She's married with a little boy, he's almost two. You must miss it."

"Of course," Jessica smiled; "It's home. I have a brother too but I haven't really had a best friend since primary school. It was a boy then and at that age things change all the time," she sighed.

"That's elementary school hon," Sara translated the British term and Jess rolled her eyes again. To Clay, the blonde added; "Don't let this one start raving about her former best friend James Potter," she said affectionately; "She's unstoppable on a roll!"

Now it was Clay's turn to choke on his soft drink; "James Potter?" he spluttered incredulously, as Jessica returned the earlier favour and thumped him on the back.

"That's what I just said," Sara raised her eyebrows at him again and Clay had to concentrate extremely not to let her cuteness distract him.

"Uncontrollable black hair, blind as a bat without his big round glasses, prankster king James Potter?" he reiterated curiously.

"How on earth did you know that?" Jessica squealed admiringly. She gave Sara a long, pointed look as if to say "this one is a keeper" with her eyes only, but the blonde ignored it.

Both girls stared at Clay curiously and he grinned and said simply; "He's my brother in-law now, only met him at my sister's wedding the one time but she's very happy with him." From that moment on, Clay Evans had both Sara and Jessica hooked on his every word and neither girl noticed Alex's frustrated huff at his completely wasted efforts.

**A / N I had fun with this chapter because there are many nostalgic things about it. For one, the re-introduction of my first ever OC Jessica Parker, kind of like getting an old friend from my Harry Potter fanfic days back. On that note I also introduced my personal headcanon that Clay Evans and Lily Evans-Potter are siblings, just so I might eventually get to write a bit of my HP OTP Jily again at some point. Enjoy all! xx**


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